klp wrote:Using David since he in unencumbered by the Babylon, Rome, Greek influences, did King David think that his dead infant son was alive in the spirit realm and that he would eventually be re-united with him? If so, when did the infant son gain this soul/spirit component? Did David hope and think that he would be eternally with God?
I do not believe he expected that. As soon as the child died, David was up and around and resuming his life. He said there was no longer any point in praying because the child was dead/gone. I don't see any hint that the expected anything different - perhaps he believed they would be reunited after he himself died in some nebulous spirit world, but I don't think that is discernible from the text.
klp wrote:I think these are sort of rhetorical questions based on the text. And I think David has a definite notion of individual and identifiably separate souls. I understand that the Jews have held different views and may even so today think differently from what David thought about this topic.
I agree with your comment about breath and like the term "gave up the ghost" and "breathed his last", the idea was definitely that the life spirit was breathed and at death one breathed it out.
Judaism isn't exactly big on 'believing exactly correctly 'about much of anything (except the one-ness of God and the importance of the revelation at Sinai - and even the exact meaning of that is up for discussion). And BECAUSE there is no 'official doctrine' about souls, after life and so forth (except that there IS one), there are ideas all over the place (and none is 'official').
Plus there's the additional complication that not all Jews necessarily believe everything 'Judaism teaches'. Mostly because one of the main things Judaism teaches is 'question everything!'
The current main thinking on 'souls' is that, at base, all souls are gifts of God, and a soul/body together make up a person. There are children's stories about how when you are asleep, your soul leaves and goes to heaven and hangs out, or writes all your doings in a record book. Prayers around bedtime ask angels to guard your sleep. There's a notion that it might be possible that your soul could get lost, or intercepted, before returning to your body - and so sleeping is a perilous thing because the body/soul connection is 'thinned'. The traditional morning prayer thanks God for RETURNING one's soul.
the prayerbook (which is a great source for understanding what Judaism actually believes) indicates that God sustains the living (keeps us alive, provides what we need) and that God gives life to the dead (I should quote that: 'gives life to the dead'). God keeps faith with those who sleep in dust (the dead). What exactly do those phrases mean? They have been interpreted over many centuries in different manners, but basically they are an expression of trust that God will not forget us, ever.
During the High Holy Day services, this same prayer has some interesting additions - (bear in mind that the theme of the HHD's is God's judgment over all) - here's some of the added phrases:
Remember us that we may live...
In mercy, You remember Your creatures with life.
Faithful are You in giving life to the dead.
(the first prayerbook was assembled before 1000 CE, and this prayer is the oldest in it, and is quoted in part in the Talmud, which dates back at least as early as 300 CE - so I think this approach can be taken as both authoritative and dating back to Second Temple times).
And then there are other references - like Psalms (these are popular or liturgical songs and prayers - unlike Christianity, Judaism does not consider these 'inspired word of God' level material - but they do reflect what was likely the common understanding. Psalms typically date to some period during First Temple times - about 900 to 600 BCE.
Ps 115 -
The dead cannot praise the Lord, nor can those who go down to silence (also 'the dead' - Hebrew poetry doesn't use rhyming words, but instead typically uses coupled phrases meaning the same thing).
Some of the Psalms may have been by David, some others were written according to his authorization - and they date much closer to David's time than anything else.